Valor Mortis Laudanum Quest Walkthrough and the Poison Choice

Laudanum is a side quest in Chapter 7 of Valor Mortis, set in The Outskirts. An old woman behind a locked door on the Island of Whispers asks William to find medicine for the typhus-stricken children in her care. Her story does not hold up, and your answer to the children upstairs decides who walks out of that house alive.

Quick answer: Talk to the children through the upstairs door and agree to poison the laudanum before you pick up the bottle. That is the only route where the children survive.

Laudanum quest outcomes: poison or plain bottle

The old woman dies no matter what you do. What changes is the fate of the children she keeps locked upstairs. She is a drunk who hoards every bottle of laudanum people bring her and gives the children nothing.

Choice	Old woman	Children	Final interaction
Poison the laudanum	Dies from the poison	Escape alive	Sick Child’s Diary, upstairs dorm
Deliver it untouched	Dies from drink	All die	Her body and diary, downstairs

The decision is made at the children’s door, not at delivery. If you agree to help them, William mixes the rat poison in the instant he picks up the laudanum, and there is no way to back out afterward. If you decline, or never speak to the children at all, she gets a clean bottle. Her diary in that ending reveals she planned to lock up more children to keep the sympathy and the free medicine coming. Neither outcome changes the main story in later chapters.

How to start Laudanum on the Island of Whispers

This quest becomes available in Chapter 7, Witch Hunt, as you make your way through The Outskirts. First, the children called the Mice must have spoken with you twice.

Reach the Island of Whispers lantern, then take the road toward the Nephtoglobin wall on the bridge. Its weak point creates a shortcut back to the lantern you visited before.

Near the bridge, check the right side for a brown door with a small oil lamp next to it. As William gets close, the old woman calls out to him.

Interact with the door and agree to look for laudanum. A “NEW SIDE QUEST” banner for Laudanum confirms the quest has started, and the journal points you toward a local drunk named Barnaby, whose dog Scruffy was recently buried.

Speak to the Old Lady (Part 1/5) — The old woman's front door, where Laudanum begins. Shown at 00:41 in Game Guides Channel’s video. Image: One More Level

Walk around the left side of the house. Climb the wooden planks and scaffolding along the narrow ledge to reach a door on the upper floor.

Interact with the upper door to speak to the children. Choose Agree to take the Poison-Filled Bottle, or refuse if you want to deliver a plain bottle.

Speak to the Children (Part 2/5) — The upstairs door where the children ask William to poison the laudanum. Shown at 01:29 in Game Guides Channel’s video. Image: One More Level

Agreeing here is permanent. Once you accept the rat poison, every bottle of laudanum William picks up for this quest becomes Poisoned Laudanum.

Where to find the laudanum in Barnaby’s house

The bottle sits in Barnaby’s house, past the Market Square lantern. The road there runs through poison clouds and a few fights, so top up your flasks first.

Fast travel to the Market Square lantern. Head down the road that passes the toxic gas and turn left at the crossroads.

Enter the barn and climb to the upper floor. A set of Exquisite Firearm Parts lies inside this barn if you want to grab it.

From the loft, use the Nephtoglobin pole with your grapple to swing across to the building on the other side. Work your way down through it, clearing the infected villagers who ambush you.

Leave that building and look for a small candlelit grave on the left. That is Scruffy’s grave, and the house next to it belongs to Barnaby.

Enter the house and go upstairs, fighting the soldiers and infected inside. Find the hole in the floor in the back corner, next to a stove or boiler.

Drop through the hole into the bedroom below. Pick up the bottle on the bedside table beside the candle.

After agreeing to help the children, you’ll see Poisoned Laudanum listed as the pickup. William applies the poison automatically, so no additional item or interaction is required.

Retrieve and Poison Laudanum (Part 3/5) — Poisoned Laudanum appears in the inventory if you sided with the children. Shown at 02:46 in Game Guides Channel’s video. Image: One More Level

Exit through the nearby door, then lower the wooden ramp to create a shortcut to the Market Square lantern. From that lantern, fast travel to the Island of Whispers.

Delivering the bottle and finishing Laudanum

Cross back to the brown door and interact with it to hand over the bottle. She takes it and tells William to get some rest and come back later.

Deliver Poisoned Laudanum (Part 4/5) — Handing over the bottle at the front door. She asks William to return after resting. Shown at 02:52 in Game Guides Channel’s video. Image: One More Level

Rest at the nearby Island of Whispers lantern. Dying also resets the area and works just as well.

Walk back to the house. The front door is now open, with blood on the ground floor.

If you poisoned the bottle, climb the stairs to the children’s dormitory and read the Sick Child’s Diary on the floor. If you delivered it clean, stay downstairs and interact with the old woman’s body and the diary on the nearby dresser.

Rest and Inspect the House (Part 5/5) — The upstairs dormitory in the poison ending, where the Sick Child's Diary waits. Shown at 03:25 in Game Guides Channel’s video. Image: One More Level

You know it worked when the “QUEST COMPLETE” banner for Laudanum appears and The Bitter Cure achievement unlocks. In the poison ending, check the open back window with candles as well for a final journal update.

Laudanum rewards and item values

Finishing the quest grants the Potent Concoction amber. In the poison ending, the children leave William a Tiny Whisker Gift as thanks. The old woman hands over a Mythic Catalyst Clot when you deliver the bottle.

Item	Type	Effect	Max carried / rank
Potent Concoction	Amber	Flask restores 20% / 30% / 40% Nephtoglobin	Max rank 3
Tiny Whisker Gift	Consumable	Grants 3000 Catalysts	99
Mythic Catalyst Clot	Consumable	Grants 2000 Catalysts	99

Potent Concoction makes a Ferrofluid Flask refill Nephtoglobin on top of Health, by the rank percentages above. Copies of this amber also sit in chests in Valley of Ashes and the Fortress, and one of those chests is trapped.

Tiny Whisker Gift is a present from the Mice. It sells for 3000, the same amount it grants in Catalysts when used.

Mythic Catalyst Clot costs 4000 to buy and sells for 2000. It also turns up all over the map, with 4 in The Outskirts and 12 in the City of Orphans.

The Exquisite Firearm Parts in the barn on the way to Barnaby’s house are worth the detour. Pistol, Blunderbuss and Musket each need one part to reach level 8 and two more for level 9.

Laudanum is not missable. You can return to The Outskirts after the main story to start or finish it. Doing it during Chapter 7 still saves a trip, since both the Island of Whispers and Market Square sit right on your path to the Lighthouse.